Chapter 0028 THE CALL. ELENA, My heart pounded so violently I thought it might shatter under the force of it. It wasn’t just beating—it was hammering, each pulse sending tremors through my body, each second stretching unbearably between Jeremy’s words and Elena’s response. Every moment of silence was an eternity, a chasm I couldn’t cross, a void filled with uncertainty and fear. I gripped the edge of the table with trembling fingers, my nails digging into the worn wood as if I could anchor myself against the inevitable. But there was no steadying this. No stopping the way my world felt like it was crumbling beneath me. No calming the storm raging inside my chest, threatening to rip me apart from the inside out. Jeremy’s voice was steady when he spoke—steady in a way that told me just how much effort it took him to keep it that way. I could see the tension in his jaw, the way his fingers flexed around the phone like he was holding onto it for dear life. Like letting go would mean
Chapter 0029 LIES AND BETRAYAL.. RYAN, The moment Evan walked away, Elena sagged against me, the weight of exhaustion pressing into my side. She wasn’t just tired—she was drained, hollowed out by whatever had just transpired between them. “Elena,” I murmured, steadying her as she swayed. “Let’s get you inside.” She didn’t resist as I guided her through the door, my arm firm around her waist. She felt so small, so breakable in my grasp, and the need to protect her, to keep her safe from whatever ghosts haunted her, burned hot inside me. Once inside, I led her to the couch, kneeling before her as she collapsed onto the cushions. Her face was pale, her eyes distant, like she was trapped in a place I couldn’t reach. “Did he hit you?” My voice was low, careful, but the fire in my chest was anything but. She shook her head slowly. “No… he just… I don’t want to talk about it.” I exhaled, nodding. “Okay.” I wouldn’t push. Not now. But she looked so lost. Like she didn’t know where t
CHAPTER 0030 TORN BETWEEN CHOICES RYAN, I don’t remember leaving. One moment, I stood in front of her, drowning in the cold emptiness of her gaze. The next, I was outside, my feet moving on their own, my mind spiraling into chaos. The air felt different—heavier, suffocating, pressing down on me with an invisible weight that made it hard to breathe. My chest rose and fell in shallow gasps, but no matter how much air I pulled in, it never felt like enough. I reached my car but didn’t get in. I couldn’t. Instead, I gripped the edge of the door, my fingers tightening around the cold metal until my knuckles turned white. My body was rigid, every muscle locked in place as the truth crashed over me in relentless, merciless waves. She went back to him. After everything—after the way she had melted into me, trusted me, held onto me—she still chose him. The same man who had broken her, who had left her shaken and lost, who had treated her like an afterthought. And yet, when it came
CHAPTER 0031 LOVE AND BETRAYAL... ELENA.. The moment Ryan turned his back and walked away, a sharp, unbearable pain pierced my chest. It felt as if my heart had shattered into a thousand irreparable pieces, and no matter how much I tried to breathe through it, the ache only deepened. I wanted to call out to him, to make him stay, to explain that none of this was as simple as it seemed. But my voice failed me. I stood frozen, watching him disappear into the distance, the weight of my choice pressing down on me like an unbearable burden. I had made a decision—one that felt inevitable but left me feeling like I had lost something irreplaceable. Guilt wrapped around my heart, suffocating me, but I had no time to dwell on it. I had to return to my husband. “I don’t want him here anymore,” Evan thundered angrily. “He’s a child. What could he possibly want from you?” “Don’t mind him. I have nothing with him. It’s you I love.” Evan’s glare remained hard, his anger barely containe
Chapter 0032 CHAOTIC LOVE RYAN, No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t understand why she kept going back to him. Was it love? Fear? Some twisted obligation? Every time I thought Elena was ready to leave, she slipped right back into Jonathan’s grasp. It didn’t make sense. I knew I shouldn’t get involved, but I needed to understand. I needed to know if the rumors about Jonathan were true—if he was more than what the family thought he was. A betrayal who had left without a trace. I needed to know more. I wanted to get close to her before confronting her about it, but now I had lost my chance. Even when I had begged her to leave Evan, she just shook her head and told me I didn’t understand. And maybe she was right. I didn’t. But I was about to. I was on my way back home. I had been out for too long when my phone buzzed. It was my father. He never called me unless it was something important—or something bad. Previously, he had called because of Emily, but why was he calling n
Chapter 0033THE POINT OF NO RETURNEVAN,The only sound in the room was my own breathing—ragged, uneven. My fists curled and uncurled at my sides as I glared at Elena. Her wide, tear-filled eyes locked onto mine, brimming with the same fear she always had. The same damn fear.I was sick of it.“I am so fucking tired of you always doing this,” I spat, pacing in front of her. My pulse pounded against my skull, rage curling through my veins like wildfire. “You lied to me. Again.”Ryan had been in our house the day she caught me with another woman. He had been texting her. They had to be involved in something.She flinched at the venom in my voice, but I didn’t care.“It’s not what you think, Evan," she whispered, desperate. "I love you. I would never leave you.”I barked out a laugh, stepping closer, cornering her against the wall. “How many times, Elena?” My voice dropped, dangerously low. “How many times are you going to make a fool out of me?”She shook her head, her lips trembling a
Chapter 0034THE SEARCH..RYAN,I hadn’t slept in days. After what I saw at Elena’s house, I couldn’t stop thinking about whether she was alive or if I was already too late. I had called the one person who could find answers for me.He promised to get back to me.He hadn’t.The world blurred around me, a haze of exhaustion, frustration, and desperation. Every hour without her felt like another step closer to losing her forever. I wanted to believe she was alive, but something in my chest told me otherwise—an ache, a suffocating weight that wouldn’t ease. It pressed against my ribs, coiled around my throat, and refused to let go.One moment, she had been here. And then—nothing. No calls. No messages. No trace of where she had gone or who had taken her. I had chased every lead, called in every favor, scoured every possible place she could have been. But every road led to a dead end. Every whispered rumor, every frantic inquiry brought me no closer to her.Then, my phone rang.I nearly d
Chapter 0035 THE EDGE OF ESCAPE RYAN, The hospital loomed in the darkness, its cold, sterile walls bathed in dim yellow light. It stood quiet, almost lifeless, except for the occasional movement behind the glass. Security was heavier than expected—guards at the entrance, more stationed inside. Who needed this much security for a hospital? Someone trying to keep a secret. Someone trying to keep her hidden. I adjusted the janitor’s uniform, the fabric stiff and slightly loose around my frame. It smelled like sweat and bleach, but it would get me where I needed to go. I gripped the mop handle tighter, pushing the cleaning cart forward. My heart pounded with each step. Stay calm. Act like you belong. Inside, the corridors stretched long and empty, except for a few night-shift nurses walking briskly between rooms. The air was thick with antiseptic and something else—something heavier, like fear. The fluorescent lights above buzzed softly, casting eerie shadows along the walls. I s
CHAPTER 80UNDER ATTACK.ADRIAN,"Boss, maybe we should confirm before heading to the docks—" I said to Evan skeptical about going into the docks without full information."Just drive," Evan barked, cutting me off.His voice was sharp, tight with urgency, leaving no room for argument. The air in the car was thick, charged, and heavy with something just shy of violence. My fingers curled into fists as I stared out the windshield, my heart hammering like a war drum, each beat a reminder of how much time we were wasting.I didn’t argue after that.The tires screeched as he swerved through the late-night traffic, weaving between cars like a predator hunting in the dark. Streetlights flashed past in bursts of white and gold, the reflection shimmering on the wet pavement as we tore forward, leaving nothing but the roar of the engine behind us.I pulled out my phone, fingers moving fast as I dialed.One ring.Two.Three.And then it went up to voicemail.Damn it.I muttered a curse under my
Chapter 0079 A GHOST ELENA, I laid down in the room, my mind filled with who the man was and what he wanted from me. For the first time, I wanted Evan to be here. If he was, he would be able to get me out of here. I was Evan's captive, but I wasn’t locked up with darkness crawling up over me. The darkness had been there, but now— The darkness was worse this time. It wasn’t just an absence of light—it was a presence. Heavy. Watching. I could feel it pressing in, curling around me like an unseen force, suffocating yet intangible. My breath came in shallow gasps, each inhale filling my lungs with the taste of dust and fear. The cold slithered over my skin like skeletal fingers, wrapping around me in a suffocating grip. I drew my knees to my chest, tucking myself into the smallest space possible, as if that could protect me from whatever lurked beyond the void. I didn’t know how long I had been here. Time had ceased to exist in this place. The silence stretched endlessly, coiling
CHAPTER 0078GETTING HER BACK AGAINEVANThe city never truly slept. It breathed, pulsing beneath the surface—hidden in the shadows of back alleys, behind tinted windows, between whispered deals exchanged under flickering neon lights. The underworld never stopped moving.Right now, neither could I.Rage burned through me like wildfire, scorching, relentless. Every inhale stoked the flames, every exhale carried the heat deeper into my bones. My hands ached from clenching my fists too tightly, my jaw locked with barely restrained fury.Elena was gone.And someone was going to bleed for it.I forced my fingers to loosen, letting the weight of the gun in my lap center me. Cold metal. Familiar. An extension of myself, something I could control. But it wasn’t enough—not when fury clawed inside me, desperate to be unleashed.My mind raced through every possibility. Every name, every face that might have dared to take her from me.The list was short. I had made sure of that over the years.Wh
CHAPTER 0077KIDNAPPEDELENA,Darkness. that was Alli saw when I woke up, Thick, suffocating, absolute.Pain radiated from the back of my skull, a deep, pulsing ache that sent nausea rolling through my stomach. It wasn’t just pain—it was a heavy, consuming fog, pressing in from all sides, making it impossible to think clearly. My body felt like dead weight against the cold, unyielding floor, my limbs sluggish and weak, as though I had been unconscious for hours—maybe longer.I tried to move, but every shift sent sharp jolts of agony through me. My fingers twitched against the rough, icy surface beneath me, and a shiver tore through my body. I wasn’t just cold—I was freezing, my thin clothing offering no protection against the chill that seeped into my bones. The air around me was stale, thick with a metallic tang that sent a warning bell ringing in the back of my mind.Blood.The realization sent a fresh wave of panic surging through my veins, tightening around my chest like a vice.
CHAPTER 0076LOST AGAIN.EVANThe rhythmic tap of my fingers against the polished wood of my desk was the only sound in the room. A slow, deliberate beat, like a clock ticking down to some inevitable moment. The air was thick with the scent of expensive leather and aged whiskey, but my mind was elsewhere, sifting through a web of problems that needed solving.Elena was a problem.Evelyn was an even bigger one.And I needed to find a way to silence them both—permanently.The screen of my phone lit up beside me, the faint glow cutting through the dimness. A vibration followed, a subtle hum against the heavy stillness. Business. A distraction. I glanced at the message—a confirmation of a deal that had taken months to close. Millions in negotiation, countless hours spent maneuvering, and now it was mine. A victory, yet it left me hollow. There was no satisfaction, no surge of triumph. Only the gnawing sense that something more pressing loomed in the background, something unfinished.Then
CHAPTER 0075 IN THE DARKNESS. ELENA, The whisper coiled around me like a breath against my skin. "You should have stayed asleep." My stomach clenched, and every muscle in my body locked into place, frozen by something more powerful than fear—dread. Deep, bone-deep dread. The kind that sinks into your marrow and holds you captive. I had tried to turn on the light, but it wasn’t working. I flicked the switch again. Nothing. My fingers trembled as I reached for the lamp instead, its glow weak but steady. It wasn’t much, but it was something. I gripped the lamp tightly, holding it close like a lifeline, my fingers aching from how hard I clutched the ceramic base. The air had changed. Heavy. Humming with something unseen, something wrong. I swallowed hard, forcing a breath into my lungs, but the simple act of breathing felt unnatural. Like I was inhaling something thick and tainted. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe exhaustion had finally taken its toll, twisting reality into nig
Chapter 0074A LINGERING WARNINGELENA,I pushed the door open, stepping into the dimly lit hallway, my thoughts tangled in the web of lies I had once believed. The house was silent—too silent. The kind of quiet that doesn’t feel natural, like something was missing or waiting, holding its breath in the darkness.Shadows stretched long across the wooden floors, twisting unnaturally under the faint glow of the moon filtering through the windows. The air held a strange stillness, thick and suffocating, as though the walls themselves knew something I didn’t.For the longest time, I had pitied Evan. I had seen him as weak—a man drowning himself in alcohol, retreating into the haze of liquor to forget whatever haunted him. Broken beyond repair. A hollow version of himself.But that had all been a carefully constructed illusion.Evan was never helpless. He was never lost.He had been in control all along.A shiver ran down my spine, curling around my ribs like an unseen hand squeezing until
CHAPTER 0073THE GAME BEGINSEVAN,I heard her leave the house.I had been waiting for this moment. Sitting at the dining table, fingers tapping the polished wood in slow, rhythmic motions, I maintained the illusion of stillness. If anyone had been watching, they would have thought I was lost in thought, perhaps brooding over something entirely unrelated to her. But every breath I took, every fiber of my being, was tuned to her movements.I had known she would try again. It wasn’t a question of if—only when. Elena was many things: stubborn, reckless, restless. But above all, she was predictable when cornered. She hated being caged. She might have convinced herself she needed the walls I had built around her, might have played along for a while, but deep down, she would always test the limits.I had been waiting for the unraveling to begin.It had started in subtle ways, the way all things did with Elena. The way her pacing grew tighter, more erratic. The way her fingers twitched when
CHAPTER 72THE ARRIVAL.ELENA,The car rolled to a stop two blocks away from the house, just outside the range of the security cameras Evan had installed. The ones meant to keep intruders out. The ones that really kept me in.I clenched my hands in my lap, my fingers cold despite the warmth inside the car. Outside, the street was quiet—too quiet. Not the peaceful kind of silence, but the eerie, suffocating kind that filled the air before something terrible happened.Even in the dim glow of the streetlamps, I could still make out the cracks in the pavement, the familiar bends in the sidewalk, the warped wooden fences lining the yards of houses I once thought of as ordinary. But tonight, everything felt different. Foreign. Like I was walking into a place I no longer belonged. Maybe I never truly had.I swallowed hard and reached for the door handle, but hesitation kept me frozen.Evelyn exhaled beside me, her fingers drumming against the steering wheel in a slow, deliberate rhythm. “You